My oldest friend in the world lives in Surabaya, Indonesia. I try to see her as much as possible. Now that I live ten thousand miles away, it’s a little harder, but if I’m back in Singapore I try to head that way: it’s easy and cheap to get there from Singapore.

Surabaya will always have a soft spot in my heart. Not only is it home to my favorite Indonesian cuisines (East Javanese and Madura food are the best), it’s also a chill little city. I know enough people and I’ve spent so much time there, I have a bucket list of things to do every time I go. Instead of going to Surabaya five times a year like I used to, back when I lived in this part of the world, I’ll be lucky to get there five times in this decade. Which makes me sad.

So I made the most of my trip in September. When my friend was at work, I traipsed around the city the only way I know how: at the back of a motorbike taxi, called an ojek.

I wanted to get to a wet market just before my flight to Singapore. I had noodles to eat, and spices to bring back with me. I also managed to buy a few blocks of deliciously fresh tempeh that Indonesian friends in Singapore said was some of the best tempeh they’d ever had. Because Surabaya has the best food!

Here are some photos from the back of a bike, and from a market.

If you’ve lived in Indonesia like I have, the first word you’ll learn is ‘macet’: traffic jam.

Street signs.

‘Pak sy sdh sampe Pintu Day ya. bpk di mn?’ (“I’m at the pickup point, door D. Where are you?” Text messages to ojek drivers)

Wet markets have such a delicious mix of fresh foods and cooked foods.

The halal food in Indonesia is delicious of course, but the not-halal food in Indonesian cities with a large Chinese community like Surabaya, Medan, etc is also top tier. I went there to get me some noodles from Mie Cong Sim.

Banyak motor dimana-mana.

(Photos on Nikon FE, Kodak 5222)

As a person from the literal equator, I struggle a lot with winter. Not the cold, since it’s not really that cold here in northern California, but with the increasingly shorter days. The best way I can describe it is that I feel as though my brain, happiness, and overall health is powered by the sun. The sun is my battery. The less of it there is, the worse I feel. Every year, without fail.

Going out for a run or walk daily has been the only thing that’s worked to help me feel okay consistently. Even when it’s grey and gloomy and rainy (the extent of winter here in San Francisco, but already way too awful for me), I try to go out for a run. I carry a tiny Olympus XA2 in my pocket and I take photos of the things that I see.

I see many beautiful things, because San Francisco is beautiful, and being outside in the beauty restores me.

Sunny, windy days.

Market days at Fort Mason.

Overcast but still lovely days.

(All photos taken on an Olympus XA2, Fuji Superia 400, self-developed at home with Bellini C-41 kit and scanned on Plustek 8200i)

I’ve been keeping a ‘creative notebook’ for the better part of the year. I was trying to learn many things at once, and wanted to help make sense of it.

Here are some things I wrote in my creative notebook about the three main things I worked on this year in my practice: taking photos, playing alto sax, and learning darkroom as well as inkjet printing.

Bridge at Dolores Park, San Francisco. (Leica M3, Kodak 250D)

Learning film photography

What I set out to learn about film photography:

• shoot ten thousand photos in 2023 on color, black and white and slides. (I got to 7000, and did a lot of color and black and white, but only a few slides). I wanted to do this as I had not been taking photos on film for more than a decade. I figured the more photos I took, the more I would learn.
• learn to load film from 100ft bulk rolls (done: I load black and white, as well as slide film and motion picture film regularly)
• learn to load film in film dev tank (done: the hardest thing to do was not be so impatient. That led to many kinks and crimping in the film, early on)
• learn to develop black and white, C-41 (color) and ECN-2 (motion picture film) (done: I don’t enjoy the ECN-2, but can easily do the rest)
• how to scan 35mm and medium format film using a Fuji Frontier as well as home scanners (done: it’s a regular part of my creative workflow now)

What I learned about film photography

1. Things that seem intimidating are quickly learned, once you try
2. Some things feel complex and overwhelming if you try to intellectualize things in your brain. Getting motivated to just do it is more important than thinking about how to do them perfectly or expertly
3. Mistakes happen, and we can learn from them but mistakes that arise from being careless (for example, if I try to develop 5 rolls of film at once but I’m exhausted before I begin, I am likely to make cascading mistakes) can be avoided by being mindful of my current state
4. Get rested before trying new things, especially if it is a difficult thing or something I have ‘failed’ at previously
5. Don’t forget to have fun

Learning to play jazz

Charles Unger of the Charles Unger Experience trying out my Yamaha alto sax. (Minolta Hi-Matic 7S II, Kodak T-Max 400, Perceptol 1:2)

What I set out to do with music:

• learn to improvise to play jazz standards
• spend more time practicing my alto sax every week
• be able to easily play the high E, F and G

I think I got to do all of that, and have greatly improved my improv skills but I still need to work on it.

What I learned about music

1. My classical music grounding has given me many skills: I can play almost anything written, I can still sightread extremely well, I can play ‘in time’ easily
2. However, I need to keep working on improvisation so it feels less like a mystery, and more like second nature
3. To do this, I need to keep practicing
4. Go back to basics: work on all scales and chords
5. Practice all the jazz standards
6. Spend as much time out there with working musicians as I can: I notice that if I do, even if I’m just messing around, I pick up new skills exponentially, as if by osmosis
7. Things that are hard on my own at home: playing the high F on the alto sax, comes almost instantly when I’m in a music studio environment with other musicians and just ‘fiddling’
8. Same as with photography, don’t intellectualize too much: trust yourself to reach a note or be able to find the right ones, and just do it

Learning to print (darkroom and inkjet)

Bride at San Francisco City Hall. (Yashica Mat 124G, Kodak T-Max 400, Rodinal 1:50)

What I set out to do with printing:

• learn how to print photos using different types of paper on an Epson SureColor P7570
• print inkjet color and black and white photos
• learn how to print black and white photos in a darkroom
• learn how to print color photos in a darkroom

I got to do all that! And really love this more than I thought I would.

What I learned about printing:

1. Don’t get nervous about not knowing or remembering all the things
2. The more darkroom time I get, the more naturally it will come to me
3. I’ve already exceeded my own expectations by being able to actually produce an image (for both black and white, and color): doing something almost entirely in the dark is less anxiety-inducing than when I started
4. Practice as much as you can

A few firsts:

• I went to a super touristy part of San Francisco for the first time
• I shot slide film for the first time
• I saw a very old friend from my Dubai days, for the first time in a decade

Ticket to ride.

Carousel.

Boats.

I probably won’t go there for another ten years. Other than wanting to spend time with my friend, a place like Fisherman’s Wharf simply accelerates my social and Covid-19 anxiety. I also don’t like the shops and food there, but I know it’s not for me.

When I’m back in Singapore it can be easy to fall into old habits: sleeping in till late, staying out late, doing all of those things I used to do. On my recent trips, I’m trying to remind myself that I’ve been away for so long my parents aren’t getting younger. My parents' daily routine starts with: picking a different hawker centre every morning to eat at. I try to join them, if I can wake up (they leave extremely early).

Bukit Merah View is one of my mum’s favourites. It’s relatively low key and quiet, but has some heavy hitters. More importantly, there’s a wanton noodle stall there run by one of our distant relatives (my mother’s cousin..?). It’s very simple, but always tasty. It was even recommended in Michelin Bib.

The nice thing about a hawker centre is that it’s usually attached to a wet and dry market. After a leisurely breakfast I was able to wander over to the other side to pick up some essentials: like the Feng He Yuan first extract dark soy sauce. None of the dark soy sauces I get in the US compare, and it is absolutely essential for some of the traditional Hokkien and Teochew dishes that I try to cook abroad.

While I don’t relish waking up at 6 in the morning when I’m on vacation, food, and family is worth it: and in this part of the world, food and family is one and the same.

Purveyor of soy sauces, chilli pastes and dried goods in Bukit Merah View market.

Carrying a retro TLR camera around my neck was fun. Many older people in Singapore looked at it, wide-eyed, and told me that they used to love their Seagull or Yashica cameras too.

Breakfast with my parents.

My distant relatives' simple, but very good, wanton noodles. If you’re expecting KL style lardy savory wanton noodles, you will be disappointed: this is a basic Cantonese Singaporean style plain wanton noodles with bouncy noodles and good, basic ingredients.

View of the wet market in Singapore with tall public housing behind it.

(All photos taken on Yashica Mat 124G, Portra 400, self-dev in Bellini C-41 kit, scanned on Fuji Frontier)

I find myself spending more and more time in SF and Oakland Chinatowns. I love Chinese bakeries, so those are obviously the best places for me to get my fix. In SF Chinatown, check out Yummy Bakery and Stockton Bakery. In Oakland Chinatown I am partial to Napoleon Super Bakery. In all of those spots, pork floss bun, butter cream bun, hot dog bun, egg tarts: those are all classics. At Yummy Bakery definitely try the ‘egg white tart’, Japanese cheesecake and pineapple (bolo) bun. There are no pineapples in pineapple bun.

When I see old Chinese people staring at food in windows, I’m assured that that, too, is in my future. I mean I already stare at food in windows, especially in Chinatown, but I am looking forward to many more years of doing that.

A walk around Chinatown.

Abundant delicious foods.

Chinese delis look like this. This is a great spot, by the way. The chicken wings by the pound are great value.

(All photos taken on Leica M3, Minolta 40mm f/2 M-Rokkor, Fuji Superia 400, self-dev in Bellini C-41 kit, scanned on Plustek 8200i)

This neighbourhood is meaningful to me. I spent a lot of time here as a child, running about after church, going to eat all of the food, visiting people, going to get charcoal (from the back of a lorry here) and fresh coconuts (grated at the back of a little market here).

I think my child’s consciousness of the outside world was first formed here. I first became aware of the world in Tanglin Halt. There were Indonesian women who would take the ferry from Batam to sell food items from the market here, and I remember talking to them and wanting to know more about their food cultures, their language, and how I could take the ferry too (and I would often make the journey in the other direction, when I grew up).

Now that it’s all been set aside for redevelopment, I feel a little sad. Some bits of it remain. But I know that when I return next, it’s all going to be different, or gone. Such is life in Singapore.

I lost too much money to these machines, as a child.

Public housing apartments in Singapore’s Tanglin Halt estate.

Going, going, gone.

All going to be gone.

The old school prata man remains.

All photos taken on Yashica Mat 124G, Portra 400, dev and scan by Whampoa Colour Centre.

If the Burmese population in Singapore were a city in Myanmar, it’d be one of the top 10 cities.

We have many Burmese grocers, restaurants services in Peninsula Plaza and Peninsula Shopping Centre, conveniently located across the street from each other.

Here’s what it looks like.

Snacks.

Menu.

Offerings.

Tea shop.

Groceries.

If you’d like to try Burmese food, my favorite restaurant at the moment is Mandalay Style, in the basement of Peninsula Plaza (try the fried chickpea tofu, tea leaf salad, tofu salad and Shan noodles).

Of all of the neighbourhoods in Singapore, I’ve probably spent the most time in Little India. Not only was I born in a hospital on its edges, I also lived and studied near here for several years. Every trip abroad had to start with a visit to Little India, for foreign currency, electrical adapters, or extra supplies at Mustafa Centre.

Filter coffee.

Coconuts.

Aloo pyaz.

Windows.

Alleys.

All photos taken on Nikon FE, 50mm, Kodak ProImage, dev and scan by Triple D Minilab, Singapore.

With motion picture film.

There’s a touristy bit of Chinatown Singapore (Smith Street-ish) and a less touristy part. Often, they’re just side by side and you need to know which doors to duck into, or which alleys to turn off into, to see the less tourist bits.

Since I grew up here, I think I have a pretty good handle on things. There are the little barely marked doors past my favorite food stalls. Go through a door and turn left, and you’ll get to a large wholesaler of Korean toiletries. Take a certain overhead bridge, and you’ll get to another part of Chinatown that will soon turn into the bars and restaurants of Clarke Quay.

Buns

People’s Park.

Doors.

Wigs.

Cycling.

All photos taken on Nikon FE, 50mm f1.8 lens, Kodak Vision 3 500T, dev and scan by Whampoa Colour Centre, Singapore.

Between 2013 and 2018, I lived near the Mei Ling Street estate. I felt like if I was a housing estate, I would be Mei Ling Street. It’s old and crumbly, but it’s also got fantastic third wave coffee, one of the best cheese shops in Asia, and a few of my favourite hawker stalls (Sin Kee, Shi Hui Yuan, Ah Pang Seafood, Hui Wei Lor Mee). It’s quiet and sleepy, on the surface, but full of interesting stuff if you know where to look!

Old apartments.

Flags.

Grass.

Danger. In all languages.

One of the national dishes. One of my favourite stalls.

(All photos taken on Nikon FE, 50mm f1.8 pancake lens, Kodak Gold 200, dev and scan by Whampoa Colour Centre, Singapore)

A memory I will always treasure: the opportunities I’ve had to visit Tretes. Going to Tretes always means going on a short road trip with my best friend of 25 years. I remember listening to her describe her home to me, when we met as teenagers in Singapore, and dreaming about going there with her one day.

Indeed, we stayed friends, and I’ve visited. Many times. While I live ten thousand miles away now, Indonesia, especially East Java, will always have a special place in my heart.

This past weekend, we managed to get up to Tretes again. The trip was remarkably the same as every other time. Consistently delightful food and company. I am going to miss this. And everyone.

Absolutely delightful rawon, pecel and empal. Possibly one of my favorite restaurants in the world.

Sunlight trickling into the restaurant we usually stop at.

I don’t know anyone who eats as much krupuk as I do. And it’s the best in this part of the world.

Nasi rawon is my favorite dish in Indonesian cuisine. I can eat it a few times a day, every day. That I don’t get (good versions of) it, or at all, abroad, is why I feel the need to really focus on my rawon time when I am in East Java.

Check out the view. You can’t hear it, but there was also beautiful traditional / classical Javanese music streaming out of a school or home in the valley below. Culturally, this part of the world just speaks to my soul.

(All photos taken on Nikon FE, Kodak Gold 200, developed and scanned by Whampoa Colour Centre, Singapore)

One of my oldest friends in the world lives in Surabaya. I love visiting her. Not only is the food one of my favorite cuisines (East Java food is my favorite Indonesian regional food, and it can be hard to get abroad), the city is also a place I enjoy photographing. Eat, shoot, eat, shoot. That’s basically all I do there.

This was my first time there with a film camera. I brought my trusty tiny Nikon FE with a 28mm f.28 lens, as well as a 50mm pancake f1.8 lens. That’s really all I need on a vacation.

I even got the film sent off and developed at a local lab in Surabaya, which I was happy with.

Green.

Old.

Noodles.

No parking.

Rainbow.

I’m getting into the swing of things, shooting and developing film locally. Although I miss developing film since I’m so used to it, it’s nice to see what services are available.

(All photos taken on Nikon FE with either 28mm or 50mm lens. All photos are Kodak Gold 200, dev and scan by Impossible Lab Surabaya)

I lived in the Prinsep Street / Bencoolen neighbourhood in the early / mid 2000s. I’ve always enjoyed the vibrant street life. It is close to everything I love: Little India, Arab Street, Sim Lim Square, Sim Lim Tower, Burlington Square, and more. From early morning till late night, there’s always something fun to do and see here.

On my first full day back in Singapore today, I walked from Whampoa to Bencoolen then to Orchard Road. It felt like I got to see some of the same places and people (popped in to many of the film photography stores I used to frequent). As with everything else about this place, everything has changed. But Bencoolen Street is still the place of temples, synagogues, churches and street life that I remember it to be.

I even got my film developed and scanned in 3 hours (shout out to Triple D Minilab)!

Windows.

Temples and trucks.

Deities.

Prayers.

Great coffee.

Cats, swans, rabbits.

Heritage.

Googly eyes.

Green.

Objectifs, a non-profit arts space dedicated to film and photography.

It is only in my thirties that I have started to think this: growing up in a city-state where the ‘capital of Singapore is Singapore’ (from an Alfian Sa’at poem) is a unique experience not understood by many globally. That when nationalistic people in city-states say ‘if you don’t like it, leave’, it’s really about leaving your entire country behind. There is nowhere else to go.

So the idea that one can simply leave your city and find another one, is a way of thinking that has not really properly entered my mind. I have no sense of how large a country, or even a county can be. Back home, whenever I wanted a change of scene, I had to leave the country.

I spend some of my days in Alameda, a town accessible from San Francisco by ferry. Some people take the ferry to work. I’ve always found it quaint. It feels like the kind of small town America you might see on TV. I don’t really see elements of this lifestyle (or urban setting) where I live in San Francisco. Some times, it’s just nice to be able to be briefly away from what you know.

Birding at Elsie Roemer bird sanctuary.

Don’t be deceived: beaches in Northern California look gorgeous, but the water is much too cold!

Textures.

Retro cars and homes.

Shoreline apartments.

Alameda has birds, food, coffee, and soon, good Singaporean food (at Mama Judy’s), so I expect to be spending much more time there in the future.

All photos taken with Nikonos V, on Kodak 5222 film, developed in Rodinal 1:25 for 5:45 min, and scanned on Plustek 8200i.

The last time I was home in Singapore, I did one of my favorite alone activities: I walked a lot, and ended up in Little India. I did a 7km walk starting at sunset, and wound up there just in time for all kinds of fun. Since Mustafa Centre is 24 hours, and my favorite naan shop (Usman, along Desker Road) is open till 3 or 4, I am never in much of a hurry.

It was also mango season.

Mango season is my favorite season. And when that happens, I prefer to be in India or Singapore. (More on mangoes here)

The smell of jasmine flowers tells me there are devotees and a temple nearby. It also smells of home.

Mustafa Centre. How do I even describe how much I love it?

I would have loved this, if I was still into booze.

I’ve always loved this neighborhood the most because of all of the street life.

(All photos taken on Ricoh GR III)

Once or twice a year, I try to go on a boat ride with some birders. I started birding as a joke (“I’m getting old I need an old person hobby!") but found that I love it. I especially love pelagic birds (and also shore birds, but to a lesser extent). Something about the raw power of the ocean and the ocean life in and around and above it really inspires me. The first time I went, I saw a feeding frenzy up close: of whales hunting, pushing fish up to the surface, different types of birds diving in and out of the water. It was majestic.

The Farallon Islands don’t look too far from San Francisco on the map but it’s many hours in treacherous waters. Many people throw up: for hours. I have never had motion sickness, so I was happy to tap on that life skill to try to take photos from the boat. It’s hard when you’re on a boat, harder when the waters are so incredibly choppy.

Anyway, here are some photos I loved from the trip back in July.

All photos taken with a Nikon D810 and 200-500mm lens.

One of the more unique things about Bay Area life is that many Bay Area cities have their own ‘cabin in the woods’ programs in the summer. San Francisco has Camp Mather, Oakland has Feather River Camp, Berkeley has two camps at Tuolumne River and at Echo Lake, San Jose has one near Groveland.

Camping in the Sierras is a tradition in this region. The camps all work similarly: the recs and parks departments of those cities manage and operate these camps, which are also excellent places for youths to work summer jobs as they get free board and an hourly rate comparable to working in a restaurant. For outdoorsy youths it certainly seems like a dream, and I wish I had such a thing open to me as a teen. The camps are open to residents and non-residents, though non-residents will tend to pay a little more. The cities also have subsidized programs for lower income residents, and may also run special weeks for the elderly, for families, or for disabled children.

San Francisco’s Camp Mather seems to be one of the most competitive ones to apply to. There’s a lottery, and if you win it you get to go. On a whim, I applied to a lottery for a 3 person cabin and got it for late August. I went with my wife, and a friend.

The cabin was a reasonable size, with only space for a double and a single bed and a chest of drawers. Mosquito nets all over the windows and doors. Clean bathrooms and toilets a short (1 min) walk way. The camp was very well set up, with good facilities. There was a swimming pool and a gorgeous lake. There are activities for adults and children every single day and evening. There are on-site naturalists who have daily morning and evening walks to nearby spots. We went on one such walk, and found it fun and helpful: they knew the trails that were not widely known, and they’d each had decades of experience in that particular spot of Stanislaus National Forest (where Camp Mather is located) and the parts of Yosemite National Park that are near.

What you can expect: Hetch-Hetchy, the reservoir that provides water to San Francisco, is a short drive away and is gorgeous. Almost as gorgeous as parts of Yosemite National Park, but with far fewer tourists. Plan for a whole day in Yosemite Valley, which is easily accessible, if you haven’t been. The kitchen can provide a packed lunch (various sandwiches and fruit) for your days out of camp. A coworker said ‘Camp Mather is the only place where I can leave my children and have them entertained from morning to night, while I also get to do fun things on my own or with my spouse, and I just have my kids on a walkie-talkie and everyone has fun’.

Indeed, that was the vibe of the whole place. On the evenings we were there, adult programs included ‘wine and paint night in the barn’ and ‘walk to see the superbloom of a giant flower’. Oh, there are also tennis courts, and lots of ping pong tables. Food was also good, and it’s nice to be in an outdoorsy environment without having to manage your food supply!

Overall, I’m a fan.

All photos taken with Yashica Mat 124G, Kodak Portra 160, self-developed in Bellini C41 kit, and scanned on Fuji Frontier.

Lately, I’ve been spending more time in the Mission, specifically around 24th Street. I’ve always found 24th Street to be far more interesting than the now gentrified Valencia St. It also has better food!

One of the best things about 24th Street is that you never know what you’re going to stumble into. Some days it’s a jazz band that’s playing on the sidewalk for a Mexican bakery’s anniversary party. Other days it’s an Aztec dance.

Beautiful colors all over 24th Street.

All the things I love.

Everyone makes room here.

Delicous ice cream too.

Many book stores too.

If you ever find yourself on 24th Street, be sure to hit up some of my faves:

• Tacos del Barrio
• La Espiga de Oro
• La Torta Gorda
• Deliciosos Tacos de Canasta Mexican (a street taco stand that’s only open in the mornings at the intersection with Folsom St)
• La Palma
• La Gallinita
• Humphry Slocombe

All photos taken on a Leica M3, 50mm Summilux, Kodak Portra 400, self-developed and scanned.

One of the more surprising things about living in San Francisco is that I’m now a part of a union. Never in my lifetime of working in tech did I imagine that would happen. However, now that I work in the public sector, union life is bustling. I’m very proud to be part of a union. I see its positive impacts everyday, from the pay rises I didn’t have to personally bargain for, to the additional time off each year, and in a lot of little things as well.

Learning about all of this also got me to learn about the unions that protect the working class in the Bay Area.

So when I heard there was going to be a rally outside SF City Hall in support of the Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA), I knew I had to go. San Francisco’s media industry isn’t as large as LA’s, so our media workers make even less and have fewer protections. However, many Bay Area companies are responsible for the challenges we are now seeing. Decades of breathless tech solutionism and optimism with little concern for its ethical or real life consequences have led to the collapse of many industries, and people’s livelihoods.

Although I now own a full frame DSLR (for bird photography), I ran there instead with a Yashica Mat-124G TLR camera from 1970, and three rolls of Kodak T-Max 400 film. Later that night, I developed the film in Rodinal in my bathroom. While I’m interested in some applications of AI (it has been useful in automating some tasks, for example), I am less positive about the creative applications. I started to learn to develop film this year, warts and all, partly as a response for that. It calms me to have a physical copy of a film negative that I can hold.

Many people enthusiastically supporting the SAG-AFTRA strike

Plenty of slogans

Placards

It was a good crowd

All kinds of signs!

All of our workplace rights today were won through similar collective actions in the past

Media workers really have a raw deal, and there is no doubt that we should be supporting their strike against the studios.

Some time around 2012/2013, I spent most of my time in Myanmar. The country was opening up: Aung San Suu Kyi was out, reform was in the air, Burmese students and exiles were coming home. There was a true spirit of hope and optimism. I was no longer a photographer or writer at that time, but I had developed a set of skills from my time in that world. I had become the person that tech companies sent to ‘figure stuff out in new markets’. It was also a lucrative and exciting gig while that lasted. I did that for a couple of years.

My time being a ‘fixer’ for photographers and journalists around Southeast Asia also meant that I already knew people everywhere. I was not only okay with bureaucracy, I celebrated it. They just seemed like interesting puzzles to solve. Getting a photographer access to a person in a Bangladeshi village was more complex than getting a multinational company access to the top ten people they could hire, or finding them an office space in a booming market.

Somewhere in Mandalay.

Britney was everywhere.

Being close to Bengal, Myanmar and Kolkata always had strong links. Rangoon and Calcutta were, in the heyday, the Paris and London of the British empire in the east. Many Burmese people have Indian ancestry, and Burmese-Tamil, Burmese-Gujarati, Burmese-Bengali cultures are totally a thing. You see that in the people, food, language and historical landmarks too.

Fried total food. I love Burmese food.

My routine was to get in to Yangon on the early morning Jetstar flight from Singapore. I would land at Yangon airport, and head straight for Tin Tin Aye in Sanchaung for their famous mohinga. No one was allowed to schedule any meetings for me until I’d had mohinga.

All photos: various iPhones through the years.

When I think back to the life I led in my 20s, I will be forever grateful and amazed that I got to do the things that I did. How did I figure out how to travel around the world, eating, working, writing, taking photos? I don’t think that life exists anymore. Not in the same way anyway. But I really milked it for what I could.

Right out of college, I was a freelance travel and food writer. I wrote about different parts of Southeast Asia. I wrote about chefs. I was interested in history, food culture, people. I still am. But the ways in which I led that life (writing for magazines with “Geographic” in their name, getting advances and payouts from travel guidebooks, selling photos to newspapers), don’t and won’t exist anymore.

So I continue to do those things, but with a day job.

While I was out on the road, my phone photos were an important ‘B Roll’. Today I am sharing a selection of those photos in one place, for the first time.

Chennai was often my first port of call. Whenever I had work in India, I would fly first to Chennai. $100 one way from Singapore. Once there, I deeply explored the world of ‘nonveg Tamil food’, still one of my favorite cuisines anywhere. That love for Tamil Nadu country food was a love that nourished me and kept me happy. Brain masala, mutton sukka, deeply spiced seeraga samba biryanis. They also called this ‘military food’, and it was cuisine that was eaten in contrast to the totally vegetarian, ‘cleaner’ high caste food that I never developed a fondness for. Whenever in Chennai, I ate most at places like this.

Sri Velu was one place that I frequented for this type of food.

Roadtrips across India were a big part of my life. I went on long rides with friends, and one frequent trip was the road trip from Mumbai to Alibag. Vada pavs were mandatory, of course. Till this day, I still dream about the perfect little potato patties, with the right amount of spice, in a squishy white bread.

I spent most of my time in either Chennai or Mumbai. These are the two cities that, even today, if you were to drop me there and have me live there for months on end, I would be quite happy. My social circles and my favorite foods remain the same. Goan and all other coastal Konkani food is also a cuisine that I adore. In Mumbai, I frequently went to places like this, as well as to Gomantak or Malvani restaurants.

My happiest food memories are always whenever I get to get Tamil style biryanis. Orosorru in Chennai was a fave for a long time, but sadly they are no longer around.

One of the things I love about film photography is how it gives me a good sense of my exact feelings at precise moments in time. Depending on the film stock and camera I used, looking at old film photos takes me back in ways that I don’t experience with other types of photos I have taken in the past.

I know, for example, from the low light and lack of sharpness in these first few photos that I was just beginning to learn about film photography, and that I frequently used film stock that was not ‘right’ for the light conditions.

I know from the photo of the bus stop that this is in 2004 exactly, because I have been taking a bus from this bus stop my entire life and can tell from the way the shelter and seats and ads are set up, that it was when I was heading to university. I also know that I was probably late (because no one is waiting here and it’s way past rush hour, so I’ve definitely overslept, again.)

I can tell from this photo of a woman sitting outside a mosque in Little India, Singapore, that this was when I was experimenting with plastic, toy cameras. I came to this area very often for food, and often walked past this mosque.

I know from looking at this photo that it was in the early 00s. This wide open space no longer exists in Singapore. Every inch of open space now has several buildings on it. The tallest building in the background anchors me and lets me know exactly where I was when I took this photo: my cousins lived in that building.

This photo was taken with my first ‘real’ camera, which was a Nikon F-601 SLR. I used it to take photos on my first ‘real’ trip abroad, where I traveled to Thailand and Cambodia overland (by bus and taxi and train and motorbike). As part of that trip, I saw some atrocities (Cambodia has a horrible recent history, as demonstrated by the window of Tuol Sleng prison here). I also some great beauty.

Like the gorgeous architecture of the temples of Angkor.

Increasingly, I started to have more and more nice cameras and film things. I also got to go on more trips.

Taiwan was a firm favorite. It was so close, and always so fun. I miss it.

I even have a photographic record of my unfortunate couple of years where I dressed only in hippie pants and sandals. Here, a self-portrait in Melaka, Malaysia.

I feel so lucky to have been able to experience that part of the world and to have called it home, and that I always had my camera(s) with me.

Like so many people who still shoot film, I am now mostly rolling my own. Bulk loading, once you have the equipment, is really easy. I mostly buy bulk rolls of film stock that I can’t get off the shelf, so that’s a lot of Kodak 5222, Ektachrome, and also motion picture film.

You can get bulk rolls of many black and white film stocks easily; none for color, except for motion picture color film (I will write another post about how I learned to shoot and process this later on).

All of this has to be done in the dark.

At home, I use a dark changing bag. You really don’t need a darkroom for most things unless you want to do prints.

I pop the back of the quick loader open, leaving the crank in. You won’t be able to load the film unless you have this crank in. I learned the hard way.

Then, I remove the film from the packaging. If you buy bulk film, only do this in the dark. Shiny side up, I move the film into the recess very slightly, then use my left hand to tighten up the rest of the roll and make it fit in the back. The center of the bulk film roll sits on the spindle, like a roll of tape. Note that film will not advance past the recess unless you have the crank installed in the front.

Shut the back of the loader, screw it tight.

Take the loader out of the dark bag. You can use the bulk loader in daylight now. (It only needs to be in the dark when you are loading the bulk roll)

Remove the film advancer crank. Remove the spool part of a reusable film cassette (I use Kalt, but you can also use these). Cut some adhesive tape, and wrap around the spool. The pointy end of the spool should point towards the back of the film loader.

Pull out some film and stick the tape on the film to secure it. Grab the film cassette casing and gently slide it so that it encases the film and the spool. Note that this takes some practice: you essentially want to gently twist the film and spool to fit the slit of the casing. Sometimes this can be tough, but keep trying (gently). Screw in the cap to close the cassette.

Use the small film winder knob (next to crank) to move the spool into the bulk loader so it sits securely. Close the cover.

Set the counter to 0. Insert the crank. Holding the loader in one hand (I like to tilt it backwards with my left hand), turn the crank until it reaches the arrow. You want to add 4 or 5 extra frames from 36 (or however many frames of film you want per roll). Remove the crank. Open the cover. Use a pair of scissors to cut the film, pulling out enough to make a film leader.

Repeat.

You can get around 18 rolls per 100 ft roll, which brings the cost of Ilford HP5 down to $6.67. Retail price for that film is $9.49, so you can save almost $3 per roll of film. If you’re shooting 20 rolls of film in a month like I sometimes do, you save $60.

I have one Bobinquick loader that always has black and white film, and I’ve got another Watson type loader that has some other film, usually color motion picture film or bulk slide film. I get these from a friend who orders in bulk from Kodak in 400ft, then respools into 100 ft and sends me a few; so that can be even cheaper than buying 100ft rolls directly from a photography retailer.

Hope this helps! In case you prefer manuals, I’ve also got scans:

• link to AP Bobinquick loader manual page 1
• link to AP Bobinquick loader manual page 2

When I was growing up in Singapore I loved going to Kampong Glam, the Arab quarter.

The British colonials divided the country’s ethnic population into different sections, keeping the best and most central downtown location for themselves and for their buildings. Everybody else had to cram into their own ethnic ‘ghettos’ with varying degrees of sanitation, cleanliness and facilities.

The Arab population in Singapore largely came from the Yemeni city of Hadramaut as traders. Soon, they married the local population, and formed their own plural Southeast Asian Arab identities, but you can still see their hallmarks in the food, architecture, languages.

As a teenager and young adult I loved spending time in this neighborhood. It was a lot less sterile than the nice, clean parts of town that we loved to show off to the world. It had a soul. It still does, but these days its success (Haji Lane was recently named one of the most interesting districts in the world to visit) means it’s changed a fair bit. I still enjoy meeting friends at the unnamed sarabat tea stall, I still have a bunch of fave spots that remain, thankfully, relatively unchanged.

Faith and fortune: a view of Sultan Mosque in Singapore’s old Arab quarter. In the background, the eccentric Park View Square building that is also home to Atlas bar, one of the best gin bars in the world (and also where Thandie Newton and Vincent Cassel had a scene in Westworld Season 3). SE Asia has a significant Arab population, descendants of traders from Hadramaut in Yemen, esp. in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia.

I’m interested in the contrast of eras, architecture, vibes. Also in how quickly all of this came up: just a decade ago I would be in this alley and I could have sworn that tall building, a hotel, did not exist at all, even as an idea.

More contrasts. In the foreground, some old shophouse buildings in the Arab quarter. In the background some modern buildings including I.M. Pei’s Gateway building in the back left.

(All photos taken on Ricoh GR III with RNI presets applied.)